Dalton Pharma Services and the University of Guelph have partnered to develop a vaccine for tuberculosis. The vaccine will be jointly developed at the University and Dalton under the direction of Professor Mario A. Monteiro, a leader in microbial polysaccharide discovery and vaccine development. Dalton will scale up and manufacture the conjugate vaccine under GLP for proof of concept studies in an animal model.

“This collaboration is a perfect fit for our long term business development strategy in the vaccine field,” said Peter Pekos, chief executive officer of Dalton. “A vaccine against TB is one of the world’s most sought after vaccines. Successful commercialization would result in a potential blockbuster product that Dalton will manufacture in Canada. Industry, government, and academia will work together creating highly skilled jobs and further strengthen our capacity for innovative development in the vaccine sector.”

Professor Monteiro added, “I am delighted to embark on this project with Dalton, on the leading edge of development of the vaccines to treat diseases that cause considerable suffering around the world. Tuberculosis causes more deaths than any other infectious disease. The challenges posed by this disease have been increased by the emergence of multi-drug resistant strains. Current treatments for MDR-TB involve very long periods of intensive drug therapy, which are accompanied by side effects many patients find unbearable, and often fail.”